TEDxStockholm 2016: Crossroads

4 December, 2016

This November I was happy to photograph the biggest TEDxStockholm event Crossroads — The beginning of every direction. I was among many volunteers who helped with the event. More than 500 people visited Crossroads that was held at Münchenbryggeriet on November 21.

I wish I could tell you at least a few words about every TEDtalk or performance but I hardly remember all of them. Not because they were not interesting but because I wasn't watching them as a visitor, instead I was walking (and sometimes running) around to be able to photograph from different angles. Ugh, that was fun!

​Hint: click on a photo to fit your screen, thus it's much more comfortable to watch vertical shots.

Here's Truls Nord who helps people without sight to "see" a photo. Do you believe it? It's hard for us who is able to see to understand how a person can "see" a photo without looking at it. But Truls Nord and his team make it possible. They initiated a new method for creating tactile photographs. The method makes it possible for people without sight to experience both content and atmosphere in photographs and other complex images.

All the visitors could experience tactile photography in the mingle room during breaks. As far as I noticed everybody enjoyed.

Then comes a break between two sessions.

One of the "speakers" was Cleo — the mama of Swedish rap. Well, she wasn't speaking but performing and shared her energy with the audience.

If you've heard about a man who staged A Swan Lake literally in a pool filled with water on stage, that's him — Alexander Ekman. On the first photo, you can see a slide presenting a moment from A Swan Lake. Alexander is an international choreographer/director who creates pieces for opera houses, theatres, and museums. This time he talked about storytelling. I wouldn't be the first to say that he's really good at it. Well, his works were on the biggest stages of the world. I admire his ideas which other would consider rather crazy and impossible to bring to live.

In his talk, Alexander not just talked and showed slides but made a performance with the audience as well. Just look at the person with a fish!

Another break with mingling, virtual reality, and somebody singing in the room for the volunteers and organizers team. Wait, what? It's a warm-up party with Jurgis Didziulis! Man, he's so energetic! It's totally impossible to stay still when he's performing. Go on Youtube and listen to his Patinka. No more depression after this song :D

During his talk-performance Jurgis definitely fuelled the audience with his charm and energy, he asked some people to join him on stage and thus we got a great collective performance.

And here is a photo of me and my friends Jonas and Fernanda. If you recognize me in the street don't hesitate to say hi :)

P.S.

1. This is not the full collection of photos from the event but other shots just don't tell much of the story, and, again, I have nothing to say about those talks that I didn't listen to carefully because they required being totally present in the moment. Of course, I couldn't afford that because I need to shoot, so now I'm waiting for the videos to watch.

2. If you recognize yourself in the pictures, feel free to contact me and I'll send you the photo.

3. Info about the speakers was taken from the official Crossroads page.